


Of Glazed Hams, Roadtrips and Christmas

by LilypadProphet



Series: Christmas Oneshots [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Demigods (Percy Jackson), Annabeth Chase & Thalia Grace Friendship, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Minor Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Minor Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Roadtrips, percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27911629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilypadProphet/pseuds/LilypadProphet
Summary: '“You could just feed the rest to the neighbour’s dog? If it doesn’t fit?”Met with a glare darker than the banged up black rental car they were currently packing, Percy immediately regretted his words. His fiancee, surrounded by suitcases and tupperware, looked just about ready to throw the large plate of glazed ham she held in his face.'Percy and Annabeth embark on a trip across the country to get back to New York in time for Christmas. With a glazed ham. It makes sense. Sort of.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Estelle Blofis & Percy Jackson, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson, Percy Jackson & Various Percy Jackson Character(s)
Series: Christmas Oneshots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042368
Kudos: 27





	Of Glazed Hams, Roadtrips and Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading! This is a pretty self-indulgent oneshot set in the same universe and timeframe as the other fics in this series, but you definitely don't have to have read them for this to make sense. 
> 
> Please keep in mind, I haven't written much for this fandom, so the characterisation may be a bit off. Comments and Kudos always make my day!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own none of the characters.

**8:00**

“You could just feed the rest to the neighbour’s dog? If it doesn’t fit?” 

Met with a glare darker than the banged up black rental car they were currently packing, Percy immediately regretted his words. His fiancee, surrounded by suitcases and tupperware, looked just about ready to throw the large plate of glazed ham she held in his face.

“We’re not leaving this behind, Percy!” Annabeth said, with a slightly hysterical tone, “We said we’d bring the ham, so we’re bringing the ham!”

They had been at this for almost half an hour now, Annabeth systematically unpacking and repacking the rental, which was much smaller than the car they’d driven to the airport in, and Percy… well, Percy was helping. Kind of. 

It had been Piper’s idea to all meet up in Long Island, New York, for Christmas this year, despite the fact that most of them were currently living in completely other parts of the country. Percy supposed it made sense - Long Island was where they’d all met, mostly, at the summer camp where he and Annabeth had been counselors. What had Leo called it…? A ‘Reunion Roadtrip’?

The thing was, Percy had (not so wisely) volunteered to be in charge of bringing a ‘turkey or something’. And he’d remembered, just a little later than would’ve been ideal, as Annabeth put it. Late as in the night before they left. Luckily, Annabeth was smart enough to have looked up the closest supermarkets to their layover stop in advance, and they’d managed to buy the very last, slightly wonky looking glazed ham off the shelf. Certainly not fine cuisine, but, as  _ Percy _ had put it, it would do. 

Now, after one plane flight spent precariously balancing the dish on his lap, 45 minutes in a cab (getting lost) driving to their motel, and an hour and a half wasted waiting in line at the rental car place, Percy and Annabeth were on their knees in the dingy parking lot, waist deep in all the extra stuff that wouldn’t fit in the car’s (arguably rather small) trunk. 

“Can’t we, like, chop it up, and squish it in the leftover space left in the snacks container, then when we get there we can…” Percy trailed off, gesturing at the set of plastic containers which once held their lunches and pilfered packets of aeroplane roasted peanuts and pretzels. Annabeth was obviously running out of plans, because she seemed to seriously consider his idea.

“Maybe,” she hummed, chewing on her lip thoughtfully as she roughly measured the size of the ham, “If we just… but then… no. Hang on!”

Her head shot up, blonde waves bouncing and gray eyes lit up, sparkling with a new idea. Percy could almost see the light bulb flashing next to her head, like in one of those old cartoons. It was, as he privately referred to it as, another one of her ‘aha!’ moments.

“You’re not nursing anything, are you?” 

Percy started slightly, pulled out of his silent admiration. 

“What?”

“Are you holding anything while we drive?” Annabeth repeated.

“Um… just your handbag? And the GPS?”

“Good. So if you balance the ham, and put my bag in the back, which would mean moving the snack containers to the front…”

She continued to mutter directions, mostly to herself, as she moved around the car, adjusting the different bags and equipment. Percy stood back, allowing her to finish the job. Not more than 20 minutes later, they were clambering into the rental, squishing themselves in amongst the piles of luggage, and reversing out of the car park. 

**12:00**

“So,” Percy said, simultaneously preventing the ham from sliding off his lap and navigating for Annabeth, who was taking the steering wheel for once, “What time did we say - hold on, left here - say we’d arrive?”

“We should get to your Mom and Paul’s apartment around 5,” She replied, taking a sharp left that almost made Percy drop the ham, “And then we’ll go to Jason’s holiday house tomorrow. Christmas Eve.” She glanced at him briefly out of the corner of her eye, as if he might have forgotten, which (given the whole glazed ham affair) was probably not an entirely unreasonable conclusion.

“Jason’s got a holiday place on Long Island? I thought he was only renting it last time?”

“Uh-huh. He finally got the money to buy it off Piper’s Dad. Not that he really needed to, I’m pretty sure he would’ve been fine to give it to them, but you know Jason’s whole thing with moral obligations and rules,” Annabeth gestured vaguely with one hand, “Turn here or the next exit?”

“Um… next one, I think,” he said, brow scrunched in confusion as he squinted at the GPS, “You sure you don’t want me to put this on the dashboard so you can see?”

“It’s a bit late now-”

“Oh crap, no, you need to take this exit!” Percy cut in, and Annabeth veered right as a symphony of horns beeped and screeched behind them.

“Percy! Really? We could’ve been pulled over for that!” She checked behind her fervently, “This is why I’m the navigator!”

**14:00**

“Do you know when Hazel and Frank are coming up?” Annabeth asked as they pulled out of the McDonalds drive-through, the stale car air filled with the scent of fries and hamburgers. 

“Taylmefthonmundy,”

“Pardon?”

“Sorry,” he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin and putting down the burger, “They left on Monday, said they wanted to do the full roadtrip experience,”

Hazel and Frank, who worked at a summer camp near where Percy and Annabeth studied in San Francisco, were more recent additions to their motley crew of friends. While Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Thalia and Nico had all attended camp together, and Piper and Leo had joined a few years later, they’d only met the others in the last three years. Percy had been part of an exchange program with a Californian College, and had met the two students during his stay. Unbeknownst to him, Jason, who had also been in the program, turned out to be Thalia’s long lost brother and childhood friends with Leo and Piper, the latter of whom he dated for a number of years. As Leo had wisely put it; ‘It’s a small world.”

“That’s a good idea. Hazel mentioned not having seen that part of the country yet,” Annabeth smiled, sipping her coffee.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as the car zoomed down the highway, the closest vehicle still barely a dot in the distance.

“Talked to Thalia lately?” 

“Not really. She phoned a few weeks ago, to say she wouldn’t be able to make the party, but that’s it really,” Annabeth answered, slightly tight-lipped. She and Thalia were practically sisters at this point, but since she was promoted in the army, they’d been seeing less and less of her.

“Huh. She isn’t on duty over Christmas is she? That would suck,” Percy said, struggling to come up with a reply.

“No, she’s at home, but she’s heading overseas after New Years. Mentioned something about catching up with an old friend during the break,”

**17:00**

“Percy!”

Before the car doors had even banged shut, Percy found himself being bowled over by a small, giggling blur of salt and pepper curls and a long winter coat.

“Hey, Squirt!” He mimicked her bubbly squeal, swooping the toddler up and spinning her around. Behind them, Sally Jackson stood just outside the apartment building, resting her head on her husband’s shoulder and smiling softly. The scene would’ve looked like something right out of a Christmas card, if not for Annabeth in the background, huffing and puffing as she lugged two suitcases out of the rental.

“Oops, hang on a moment, let me just…” Percy grinned sheepishly, gently placing the dizzy child back on the ground and moving to grab one of the bags. His fiancee flashed him a thankful smile, then turned to greet the family.

“Hi there, Estelle,” She said, bending down to meet the little girl's eye level, “Remember me?”

Estelle Blofis gave her a shy smile, nodded, then rushed back to hide behind her mother’s leg. Paul laughed.

“It’s been quite a while since she last saw you guys, huh?”

It had indeed been quite some time since they’d come home to Manhattan. Seeing as they’d enrolled in college much later than the average young adult, both Percy and Annabeth had been working as hard as they could to complete their courses (Marine Biology and Architectural Design respectively) and pass with flying colours. Well, mostly Annabeth. He wasn’t saying he didn't study as much or work long hours, but… well, yeah, he didn’t study as hard or work long hours.

“It’s been too long!” Annabeth said sincerely, shaking Percy’s step-dad’s hand and hugging his mom. 

“Uh-huh,” he agreed, rather less eloquently, and they all clambered into the elevator, which had had it’s usual bland music replaced with Christmas carols. Annabeth and Sally quickly fell into a steady conversation about college and California and other related things. Just as he was starting to feel a little awkward (they’d started seriously discussing the best time of year for weddings) he felt a tug on his sleeve.

“Percy?” Estelle looked up at him with huge sea-green eyes.

“Yeah, Squirt?”

“Have you ever seen a mermaid?” her face was solemn, and she asked as if the matter was of great gravity.

“A mermaid!” he exclaimed in mock amazement, and the little girl giggled. Paul watched on fondly.

“Well, there was one time… ah, I don’t know,” he trailed off, shaking his head.

“Tell me, tell me!!” she squealed. He leaned in conspiratorially.

“Last month, Annabeth and I were swimming in the ocean during vacation. It was a really, really hot day, yeah, and I dived way down deep into the waves,” he paused, glancing at his mom and Annabeth, who’d stopped talking and were paying attention. Estelle was listening, enraptured. 

“As I was swimming, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. I turned around quickly, and saw a long fish tail disappearing behind a rock! I followed it, of course, and when I looked around… there was nothing there,” the girl’s face fell, but Percy pushed on, “However, when I swam back up to the surface, I heard a noise. It was calling my name, going  _ Peerrrcyyy, Perrrccccyyyy, _ ” he waved his fingers and spoke in a lofty, high pitched voice. Estelle’s face broke into a grin, and she giggled loudly.

“Shhh… you won’t believe what I saw next,”

“A mermaid?”

“How’d you know?!” he grinned at her, and she laughed again, “It sure was! But I was so busy looking behind me I didn’t see the huge pile of seaweed until I swam right through it!”

“And that’s why we call him Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth concluded, and he looked up at her. She was smiling back at him, eyes shining with mirth, and in that moment, he felt like nothing could ruin their happiness.

“Seaweed Brain!!” Estelle squealed, and burst into her greatest fit of giggles yet.

**03:00**

Percy wasn’t quite sure what woke him up at 3 in the morning, but he did know that the moment he opened his eyes, he became suddenly aware of the fact that they had left the ham in the car. And, because it was 3am, and he lacked any sense or logic before five, he decided that it was absolutely imperative that he go grab it and bring it up right now. Without shoes. Or a jacket. Or a flashlight.

He also wasn’t quite sure why he was  _ surprised _ that he stubbed his toe on the staircase in the dark, and cold, and with no shoes on.

“Ahh, gods-damit,” he cried, letting out a string of soft curses. The wire door to the apartment slammed shut behind him with a bang. Being in the city, it was hardly quiet, but Percy felt as though every limping footstep was far too loud, that the click of the car unlocking seemed to echo across the parking lot. 

Hobbling back towards the building with the glazed ham under one arm, Percy silently wished he’d stayed in bed. Just as he thought his luck couldn't get any worse, the screen door refused to budge under his grip. He tried again. No movement. He put down the ham, grabbed the handle, and pressed hard against the door. Once again, nothing happened.

_ Deep breath in _ , he reminded himself. Depending on how you looked at it, luck was never on his side or always on his side. He’d gotten himself into situations like this  _ many _ times before, and sheer good fortune, along with determination, usually seemed to get him out. In one final attempt, he kicked at the door for good measure, ramming his whole body weight into the unsuspecting screen.

He probably should’ve anticipated it would spring open. 

With an oof, Percy tripped over the ham, falling through the now open doorway and falling flat on his face. He was pretty sure his nose was bleeding. 

At the top of the staircase, a light flickered on and a door opened. 

“Seaweed Brain?” Annabeth called down, and Percy was pretty sure that, with the lights illuminating her frizzy bed hair from behind, and her sleepy voice, he’d seen an angel.

“Urghhh,” he groaned, which he hoped would convey the message that he was still alive.

“What the-? Percy? How did you-?” She stumbled down to meet him, taking the stairs two at a time. He pulled himself up by the rail, wiping his face, which, sure enough, was bleeding. Annabeth grabbed his arm and tossed it around her shoulder, pulling him to the elevator instead. 

Because it was 3am, and no-one was using it, the elevator dinged in at record time, it’s doors opening in a flood of Mariah Carey and harsh lights. Annabeth lugged Percy inside, and he leant back against the shiny metal walls. 

“Oh, gods. Wow. What were you doing outside? Are you okay? How did that happen? Hang on, start at the very beginning-”

While Percy loved her very much, and would be the first to acknowledge her brilliance in most aspects, he was very glad his fiancee wasn’t a doctor.

“I… wanted to get the ham. We left it in the car,” he explained lamely.

“The… ham? Why would you-? Okay, I’m not even going to ask. Here,” she handed him a tissue, which he mopped up his bloody nose. It had mostly dried, anyway.

“You must be freezing,” Annabeth exclaimed, as if noticing he hadn’t brought a jumper for the first time. Ignoring Percy’s protests, she pulled off her own gray hoodie, bearing the words ‘New Rome University’ in block letters, and handed it to him. It only went down to just below his ribs, but it made the chill more manageable.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

“Um… Percy, did you even get the ham?” She asked cautiously, glancing around as he patted his nose. He jumped up with a start.

“Gods! No, I didn’t. Dam, I must’ve left it at the stairs, we’ve got to go-”

“Hey,” Annabeth said, grabbing his arm. She looked up at him with startling gray eyes, “Seaweed Brain. Listen to me, ok? It’s fine. If the glazed ham’s not there tomorrow, we can drop in at the butchers and buy something else. Jason will understand,”

He stopped for a moment, breathing deeply. 

“You’re right. Sorry. I just, y’know, didn’t want to lose it after all we went through to actually find a ham, and then transport it here, and you’re really cool plan with the car packing, and-”

“Percy,” Annabeth whispered, “Shut up,”

He did as he was told, and leant down to meet her lips. While the rest of Manhattan was still waking up on Christmas Eve, the pair kissed to the soundtrack of  _ All I Want For Christmas Is You _ , and Percy was, once again, certain that nothing could pop their bubble of happiness.

  
  
  



End file.
